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Town house fit for ‘a genteel and large family’

Marcus Binney

August 10 2013, 1:01am, The Times

No. 1 Royal Crescent, BathDan Brown

Royal Crescent in Bath is one of the most magnificent compositions in English architecture — a grand receding curve on a heroic scale fronted with a run of 114 giant Ionic columns, each 47ft tall. The architect John Wood the Younger had planned a bold projecting portico in the centre but its omission is not a loss and heightens the drama.

The Bath Preservation Trust could not have wished for a better address for its show house than No 1 Royal Crescent. This was generously donated with funds for restoration by the shipping magnate Bernard Cayzer in 1967. Now, nine months after a £5 million renovation, it has reopened, united once again with the servants’ wing in No 1A, which provides ticketing, shop, exhibition galleries…